Russian president Vladimir Putin has met Xi Jinping for the start of a summit in Beijing, just days after a similar visit by US president Donald Trump.
Putin and Xi will meet to discuss key international issues during talks over tea that officials characterised as an intimate tete-a-tete between “old friends”.
Russia said it had “serious expectations” for the visit, and that it will include the signing of a 47-page document making various commitments about Russia–China relations.
After landing last night in China, Putin was greeted by foreign minister Wang Yi and an honour guard alongside Chinese youths waving China and Russia’s national flags.
Earlier, China outright denied Xi had told Trump that Putin might come to regret invading Ukraine – reports that had threatened to overshadow the Russian leader’s visit.
Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a reporter: “The information you mentioned does not match the facts and is completely fabricated out of thin air.”
Watch: Xi welcomes Putin to Beijing with grand ceremony
Xi and Putin say Russia-China ties at ‘unprecedented level’
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have given their opening remarks at the start of talks in Beijing – here’s what the two leaders have said in their first exchange:
- Putin told Xi that ties between Russia and China are at an unprecedented level as he invited him to visit Russia next year
- Xi tells Putin the world is in danger of reversing into the law of the jungle
- Xi says the China-Russia relations have reached this level because the two sides have been able to deepen political mutual trust and strategic cooperation
- Putin tells Xi that Russia and China’s relations are helping global stability and that they are at an unprecedented level
- To his biggest energy importer, Putin says Russia remains a reliable energy supplier amid the ongoing war in the Middle East
- Xi tells Putin that China and Russia should promote the construction of a ‘more just’ and reasonable global governance system
Putin and Xi greet each other with smiles at welcoming ceremony
Russian leader Vladimir Putin was greeted by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as he arrived at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this morning.
The two leaders walked side by side on a carpet laid out for the welcome ceremony under tall flags of Russia and China.
They also inspected an honour guard during the welcoming ceremony, eerily similar to the pomp Xi had thrown for the US president Donald Trump just last week.
Xi then took his Russian counterpart to meet with his cabinet leaders lined at the steps of the Great Hall of the People.
China’s Xi begins meeting with Putin
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have started their meeting, state media reported.
Putin arrived at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and met his Chinese counterpart around 11am local time.
Putin was greeted with a welcome ceremony which featured an honour guard and the playing of both countries’ national anthems.
40 documents, tea session: What to expect from Putin’s meeting with Xi today
Russian president Vladimir Putin is accompanied by a delegation including deputy prime ministers, ministers and heads of state corporations and major banks.
Putin and Xi will likely seek to display the so-called “no limits” partnership between China and Russia as strengthened since the West imposed sanctions to punish Russia for the war in Ukraine.
- The Kremlin has set “serious expectations” for Putin’s visit, which, alongside talks, will include a signing ceremony and a banquet followed by a tea where the two leaders will discuss key international issues in an informal setting.
- Some 40 documents are expected to be signed and a 47-page joint statement on their strengthening partnership will be issued, according to the Kremlin.
- Putin and Xi are also expected to adopt a joint declaration on establishing a multipolar world order and a “new type of international relations”, a Kremlin aide said.
- Negotiations on the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, which is due to link Russia to northern China, are also likely to be on the cards, industry experts said.
- Energy supply shortages linked to the conflict in Iran may back Russia’s case for the pipeline as a long-term gas source, but Beijing may want to stick to its supply diversification strategy.
Russia considers joint projects with US and China, says Kremlin official
Russia is considering the possibility of joint projects with the United States and China, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, was quoted as saying by state media this morning.
In a few hours, Russian president Vladimir Putin will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing, days after Xi had talks with US president Donald Trump.
“Within the framework of the Russian Direct Investment Fund we are also looking at certain projects, including those involving both China and the US”, Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy and a key figure in talks between Moscow and Washington, said.
Ukraine is Europe’s ‘number one priority’, says top EU military chief
The European Union’s top military general Sean Clancy has said that Ukraine remains its top priority on Tuesday.
“The extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian people has transformed Ukraine into a fortress nation,” Clancy told Euro News arguing that Ukraine’s security is now “integral to the future security of Europe.”
He said Ukraine remains the EU’s “number one priority”.
Watch: Moment Russia ‘attacks Chinese ship’ heading for Ukraine recorded on marine tracker
Russian lawmaker urges end to conflict as country cannot sustain war
Renat Suleimanov, a Russian lawmaker and state Duma representing the country’s Communist party has called for “the quickest possible end” to the country’s war with Ukraine.
“It is absolutely obvious that the economy will not withstand a prolonged continuation of the special military operation,” Suleimanov said to Kontinent using the Kremlin’s term for the war.
“Officially, 40 per cent of the federal budget is defense and security. What kind of development, investments, and capital expenditures can we talk about?”
He said that the war “has already lasted longer than the Great Patriotic War (World War II)“ and said that “the quickest possible end” to the conflict was “simply necessary.”
US remains committed to Poland, says Polish minister after Hegseth call
The process of redeploying US military forces and assets in Europe is underway, but no decision has been made to reduce the US military capabilities in Poland, Polish defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on Tuesday on X.
“The U.S. Secretary of War confirmed that the United States’ commitment to Poland’s defence and security remains unchanged,” he also wrote after his conversation with Pete Hegseth.
Alex Croft20 May 2026 00:01NewerOlder